MESA Day 2018 Questions

Specification Clarification questions must be emailed to azmesa@email.arizona.edu or submitted via our web form at MESA Day Question. Questions should be discussed with advisors prior to submission. Submitted questions should include your name, your school, and advisors should be copied on the email.

The following questions were proposed for clarification of the MESA Day 2018 specficiations.

Answer: It is possible for students to participate on more than one team. Each specification identifies how many students must be present during testing, so you should refer to those specifications. The only events that restrict students from participating in other events are the National Competition and On-Site since they require all team members to be present and require a longer time commitment to compete.

Question: Can notebooks be digital or do they have to be on paper?

Answer: Students can use a digital notebook but they will be required to provide a hardcopy, printed or handwritten copy, of the notebook at MESA Day for judging, if required by that design challenge. If printed students should be prepared to answer questions by judges to ensure that the work is the student’s own work.

Answer: Yes, however, it is important to remember that the project must be centered around the use of Arduino to meet the needs of your identified client. Also, keep in mind the need to transport the project to MESA Day, and possibly the National Competition.

Question: What do teams needs to bring to the Regional Design Day?

Answer: Students should complete the Design Brief to provide judges a summary of their project.

Answer: Per the specs, “You may use all types of materials when designing your car. However, you MUST use the four solar panels and motor provided by QESST…” so yes these parts can be used as long as the provided solar panels and motor provide all the power to the vehicle.

Question: Can any part of the bridge hang over the support more than the eight feet (1 foot for each base of the bridge and 6 feet between the supports)? To clarify this question a little more, the maximum length of the bridge has to be 8 feet only.

Answer: An overhang, or cantilever, is not prohibited by the rules. However, do keep in mind that any such overhang would still need to abide by all other rules and that the footing area is the only are where the bridge can touch the ground.

Question: What exactly does “The bridge shall not be less than 2’0” wide nor wider than 4’0” at any location along the span” mean?

Answer: The span of a bridge is defined as the part of the bridge between the piers or supports. So the bridge must be at least two feet and no more than four feet wide.

Question: Can the PVC pipe be formed into angles, other than straight 180 degrees, as long as the structure of the pipe is intact and the safety of the design is considered?

Answer: Forming or bending is not specifically prohibited in the specifications, however, it is stated that “Members shall not exceed overall dimensions of 2' x 6” x 6”. That is, it shall fit into a right rectangular prism (i.e., box) of those dimensions.” So any bent form would have fit within these parameters to meet specifications.

Question: Can duct tape or zip ties be used to reinforce the bridge once it is assembled?

Answer: Yes if they are used as connections per rule 3 which states “Connections must be loose and can be made of PVC pipe connectors or other materials.”. For the purpose of the competition, loose connections are connections that are not permanent. All connections must be assembled on site during the construction period and must be able to be disassembled as well. So duct tape could be used since it can be removed, whereas glue could not be used since it is a permanent bond.

Question: If a bridge "member" consists of a pvc pipe and a pvc connector - can that be glued if it falls within the "member" description?

Answer: Yes, if the PVC connector is permanently affixed to the PVC then it would be part of the member and must fit in the 2 ’x 6” x 6” prism and be made from schedule 40 PVC. If the elbow is not permanently affixed to the PVC and would be attached during the building phase than the elbow is a connection and not a part of the member, thus the elbow would not be need to fit in the prism with the PVC.

Question: Can the pieces be zipped tied together in two foot pieces? In other words, can the pieces be already connected together with zip ties as long as they meet the 2 foot by 6 inch rule?

Answer: No, zip ties are considered connections only and all connections must be put together on site during the construction time.

Question: Can we use wood inside the PVC pipes and nail it to the PVC as a connection?

Answer: Yes, since the nails can be removed it qualifies as a loose connection, however, it does propose a possible safety hazard. Drilling holes in the PVC and Wood and using pins or nuts and bolts that can slide through would be a safer option.

Answer: The kind and/or type of cardboard that is used is not restricted. There are different types and we encourage teams to explore the properties of different types of cardboard as a part of the design process. Don’t forget to include any information collected and/or data from experimentation in your design notebook. A great source of information on cardboard can be found at http://makingsociety.com/2014/11/cardboard-prototyping-1/. This site is also listed under the resource section for this event on the MESA Day Page.

Question: Can gorilla duct tape or heavy duty duct tape be used for the boat?

Answer: Yes, both of those duct tapes will be allowed.

Question: Will the students be placing the bottles on the boats or will adults? Can they direct how they are placed? Will they be placed on the bottom as they would be to stand on desk?

Answer: Bottle will be placed by judges into the boats and will be placed with the bottle opening up. Before testing teams can ask judges to follow a certain pattern but during testing it will be at the judge’s discretion.

Question: Can the cylinder part of a Pringles can be used?

Answer: No, although the cylinder is mostly cardboard it does have a layer of foil on it, which is not allowed. The only allowed materials are cardboard and duct tape.

Question: Can the bottles be stacked on top of each other once the bottom of the boat if covered?

Answer: Yes, once the bottom layer of the boat is covered additional bottles can be stacked, however, remember that all bottles will be placed with the bottle opening pointing up.

Question: Can we completely cover the cardboard with duct tape?

Answer: Yes, however judges reserve the right to peel back cardboard to confirm that only cardboard and duct tape was used. This could happen before and/or after testing. It is suggested that teams also bring sample materials to show judges and be prepared to talk about the design and construction of the boat.

Question: Can the Cardboard canoe be more of a raft shape?

Answer: Although the name of the event is “Canoe” the Objective listed in the specifications states that teams must “…design and construct a boat…” so other shapes are allowed.

Question: Can the canoe have tubes underneath?

Answer: Yes, as long as the tube are only constructed from cardboard and duct tape.

Question: Are we only allowed to use the PLA plastic and ABS plastic to make our whole design?

Answer: These plastics are the most commonly used and that is why they were listed in the specifications. However, if teams want to use other types of filament for their design that will be allowed.

Question: What do teams needs to bring to the Regional Design Day?

Answer: Students should complete the Design Brief to provide judges a summary of their project. A computer and projector will also be available for students to share any designs they may be working on using Tinkercad or OnShape.

Question: Can part of the accessory be 3d printed and part be superglued on?

Answer: Yes, if the idea is to modify an existing product to improve its use as a cellphone accessory or convert it to a cellphone accessory. However, since the objective of the competition is to design a cellphone accessory using a CAD program and is designed to be 3D printed, only the part that is designed to be 3D printed will be considered for scoring purposes.

Question: Will this challenge be structured like a quiz at every stop or will the problems reveal the clue itself?

Answer: The problems will not reveal the clue. Each team will attempt to solve the problem presented at each station, and will have a maximum of 10 minutes to solve that problem. Once teams submit their answer for scoring, they will be scored, assigned points for that problem, and given the next clue regardless of the correctness of their answer. The final score will be the sum of the points from each station divided by the time in minutes. A bonus question or quiz may be added at the finish to serve as a tie-breaker.